Cécile VASMER (FRA)

Cécile VASMER (FRA) is a novice in the MARATHON DES SABLES; she will participate for the first time in MDS The Legendary next April. And 240 km to cover in the South Moroccan Sahara in 5 stages is intimidating: “I heard about the MARATHON DES SABLES a few years ago, I told myself that it was completely inaccessible. But the photos, videos and testimonies and the book by Monika NICOLLE – History of a MARATHON DES SABLES – made me really want it.“ And then Cécile meets Anouck, a participant in the 2022 edition: “What she says about her experience really seems extraordinary. The landscapes, the encounters, the sharing, the adventure, surpassing oneself, that’s what makes me want it. But with the heat and the intense effort over several days, I don't know how my body will react.“

In her thirties, Cécile lives in Lyon and is a worker on an engine assembly line. His staggered working hours allow him to find time to train during the day. She manages to run four times a week, and do some muscle strengthening. A sportswoman in her youth, first athletics, then tennis, volleyball, football, roller hockey, Cécile started running again around ten years ago. Then… Small problem: “Stupid accident, fracture of the talus during the holidays, and four years of break… I discovered climbing during this period, and then I told myself that I could still run, even with an ankle less mobile. » And that’s the sequence: a first half-marathon, a second, and the desire to do more. “I ran the Saintexpress in December 2022, then my first marathon in April, the 100 km of Millau at the end of September, and it will be the Saintélyon at the end of the year. Then the MARATHON DES SABLES in April 2024.”

It must be said that Cécile had the path mapped out, with her dad, a fan of ultra-endurance races. “He’s a good model! But I think I lack a little lucidity.“ His hardest race so far? “When I was young, my first cross country type trail. I did the first climb running at full speed. Burned directly. I didn't understand the principle of walking during a race: first abandonment!“ Since then, Cécile has understood the importance of walking, and we have no doubt that she will be able to use all her experience to achieve her objective for the MDS 2024: “Have fun and be a Finisher!”